118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 724
AN ACT
To protect children against sexual abuse and exploitation,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
†S 724 ES
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Child Sex 2
Abuse Act of 2023’’. 3
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 4
The sense of Congress is the following: 5
(1) The safety of children should be a top pri-6
ority for public officials and communities in the 7
United States. 8
(2) According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest Na-9
tional Network, an individual in the United States is 10
sexually assaulted every 68 seconds. And every 9 11
minutes, that victim is a child. Meanwhile, only 25 12
out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in pris-13
on. 14
(3) The effects of child sexual abuse can be 15
long-lasting and affect the victim’s mental health. 16
(4) Victims are more likely than non-victims to 17
experience the following mental health challenges: 18
(A) Victims are about 4 times more likely 19
to develop symptoms of drug abuse. 20
(B) Victims are about 4 times more likely 21
to experience post-traumatic stress disorder as 22
adults. 23
(C) Victims are about 3 times more likely 24
to experience a major depressive episode as 25
adults. 26 3
†S 724 ES
(5) The criminal justice system should and has 1
acted as an important line of defense to protect chil-2
dren and hold perpetrators accountable. 3
(6) However, the horrific crimes perpetuated by 4
Larry Nassar demonstrate firsthand the loopholes 5
that still exist in the criminal justice system. While 6
Larry Nassar was found guilty of several State-level 7
offenses, he was not charged federally for his illicit 8
sexual contact with minors, despite crossing State 9
and international borders to commit this conduct. 10
(7) The Department of Justice has also identi-11
fied a growing trend of Americans who use chari-12
table or missionary work in a foreign country as a 13
cover for sexual abuse of children. 14
(8) It is the intent of Congress to prohibit 15
Americans from engaging in sexual abuse or exploi-16
tation of minors under the guise of work, including 17
volunteer work, with an organization that affects 18
interstate or foreign commerce, such as an inter-19
national charity. 20
(9) Federal law does not require that an abus-21
er’s intention to engage in sexual abuse be a pri-22
mary, significant, dominant, or motivating purpose 23
of the travel. 24 4
†S 724 ES
(10) Child sexual abuse does not require phys-1
ical contact between the abuser and the child. This 2
is especially true as perpetrators turn increasingly to 3
internet platforms, online chat rooms, and webcams 4
to commit child sexual abuse. 5
(11) However, a decision of the United States 6
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit found the 7
use of a webcam to engage in sexually provocative 8
activity with a minor did not qualify as ‘‘sexual ac-9
tivity’’. 10
(12) Congress can address this issue by amend-11
ing the definition of the term ‘‘sexual activity’’ to 12
clarify that it does not require interpersonal, phys-13
ical contact. 14
(13) It is the duty of Congress to provide clear-15
er guidance to ensure that those who commit crimes 16
against children are prosecuted to the fullest extent 17
of the law. 18
SEC. 3. INTERSTATE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE. 19
Section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, is 20
amended— 21
(1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘with a moti-22
vating purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual con-23
duct with another person’’ and inserting ‘‘with in-24 5
†S 724 ES
tent to engage in any illicit sexual conduct with an-1
other person’’; 2
(2) by redesignating subsections (d), (e), (f), 3
and (g) as subsections (e), (f), (g), and (i), respec-4
tively; 5
(3) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by 6
striking ‘‘with a motivating purpose of engaging in 7
any illicit sexual conduct’’ and inserting ‘‘with intent 8
to engage in any illicit sexual conduct’’; and 9
(4) by inserting after subsection (g), as so re-10
designated, the following: 11
‘‘(h) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—As used in this sec-12
tion, the term ‘intent’ shall be construed as any intention 13
to engage in illicit sexual conduct at the time of the trav-14
el.’’. 15
SEC. 4. ABUSE UNDER THE GUISE OF CHARITY. 16
Section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, as 17
amended by section 3 of this Act, is amended— 18
(1) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘(d) I
LLICITSEXUALCONDUCT IN CONNECTION 21
W
ITHCERTAINORGANIZATIONS.—Any citizen of the 22
United States or alien admitted for permanent residence 23
who— 24 6
†S 724 ES
‘‘(1) is an officer, director, employee, or agent 1
of an organization that affects interstate or foreign 2
commerce; 3
‘‘(2) makes use of the mails or any means or 4
instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce 5
through the connection or affiliation of the person 6
with such organization; and 7
‘‘(3) commits an act in furtherance of illicit sex-8
ual conduct through the connection or affiliation of 9
the person with such organization, 10
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more 11
than 30 years, or both.’’; 12
(2) in subsection (f), as so redesignated, by 13
striking ‘‘or (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘(d), or (e)’’; and 14
(3) in subsection (i), as so redesignated, by 15
striking ‘‘(f)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘(g)(2)’’. 16
SEC. 5. SEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH MINORS. 17
Section 2427 of title 18, United States Code, is 18
amended by inserting ‘‘does not require interpersonal 19
physical contact, and’’ before ‘‘includes’’. 20
Passed the Senate March 8, 2023.
Attest:
Secretary. 118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 724
AN ACT
To protect children against sexual abuse and
exploitation, and for other purposes.